Becoming Rich with Daily Scavenging APP-Chapter 396: Future Automobile

As a veteran in the business world, Lei Jun’s launch of a new Rice vehicle brought many industry peers over to celebrate.

This is a rare phenomenon.

After all, one more company in the industry means one more competitor, and one less cent for oneself to earn.

But Lei Jun’s influence is just that significant. At this launch event, the bosses of Li Xiang Automobile, Future Automobile’s Li Bing, Fei Peng Automobile’s Zhao Feipeng, Changcheng Automobile’s Wei Yujun, and BAIC’s Zhang Yong all came to attend the launch.

When Chen Yiyang arrived, his first task was naturally to find his old friend Zhao Feipeng for a chat.

"Wei Yujun is here today too." Upon seeing Chen Yiyang, Zhao Feipeng immediately murmured, "Be careful not to clash with him later."

"What are you saying?" Chen Yiyang stepped back and glanced at Zhao Feipeng a few times, "Do you really think I’m that petty?"

"I’m worried he’s the petty one." Zhao Feipeng said helplessly, "He’s of quite an age already. I heard you recently snatched an overseas automobile factory that Changcheng had their eyes on. I’m afraid Wei Yujun might not be able to hold back from saying something to you. You’re young, don’t bother with him."

Oh, Zhao Feipeng was worried that his youthful vigor might lead him to lose his cool if Wei Yujun started a conflict.

"Don’t worry about that." Chen Yiyang said straightforwardly, "Everyone is here today because of Lei Jun. I certainly won’t cause any trouble."

"Alright, alright, that’s good then."

"By the way, how’s Fei Peng Automobile’s new model coming along?" Chen Yiyang asked out of curiosity.

Wang Fengyi has been with Fei Peng Automobile for some time, and it’s said she has pretty much straightened things out internally.

After resolving internal corruption issues, Fei Peng Automobile’s manufacturing costs decreased by nearly 20%.

Just because of that, Fei Peng Automobile’s stock started to rise.

"It’s almost ready. It’s a low-priced model with very low profit, mainly to boost sales and seize the market back."

"Moving from mid-tier to low-tier?" Chen Yiyang was somewhat surprised.

Fei Peng Automobile used to focus on mid-tier models, but now it wants to shift to low-tier.

It’s hard to move from low-tier to mid-tier, and once mid-tier falls to low-tier, returning to mid-tier is practically impossible.

"First, we have to solve the survival problem." Zhao Feipeng said helplessly, "Once a company goes public, you often have to prioritize the current shareholders’ interests and can’t think too far ahead."

That’s indeed true.

For Fei Peng Automobile, boosting the stock price first is the most realistic approach.

Once the market value goes up, they can get more investment and then consider future matters.

While Chen Yiyang and Zhao Feipeng were chatting, Future Automobile’s CEO Li Bing also came over.

"Mr. Chen, I’ve heard a lot about you." Li Bing greeted Chen Yiyang warmly, not at all looking like the CEO of a car company with a market value in the hundreds of billions.

Of course, Li Bing only holds about ten percent of Future Automobile’s shares. Even if he could convert all of it into cash at the current market value, he still wouldn’t be wealthier than Chen Yiyang.

However, Chen Yiyang’s investments are too scattered, and his industry’s complexity makes it difficult for anyone without strong intentions to calculate his current net worth.

So traditionally, people still think of Chen Yiyang as a new star in the business world with a net worth of around a billion.

"I’ve heard Brother Wu mention you many times. In the car-making industry, you are my senior." Chen Yiyang responded courteously to Li Bing.

After all, they both received investments from Tengxu.

"Shall we chat over there?" Li Bing pointed to a sofa in the corner.

"Sure." Chen Yiyang bid farewell to Zhao Feipeng and then followed Li Bing over.

"Yiyang Automobile has been established for some time now; how’s the progress on your first model?" Li Bing asked seemingly casually.

"Almost there, but since it’s the first model, we have to be cautious." Chen Yiyang didn’t specify a time. This is a business secret.

Besides, given that Li Bing asked this as his first question, he certainly wasn’t genuinely interested in when Yiyang Automobile would launch its first model.

After all, Future Automobile focuses on high-end new energy, so they aren’t direct competitors in the same track as Yiyang Automobile.

"I heard Mr. Chen’s main business is actually investment." After cracking the topic, Li Bing revealed his true purpose.

"Are you interested in learning about Future Automobile?"

?

Chen Yiyang looked at Li Bing in surprise.

He couldn’t quite understand why Li Bing would invite him to invest.

Primarily, the lineup of Future Automobile’s shareholders is too dazzling; if they truly needed money, it wouldn’t fall to him, an individual investor.

NIO’s largest shareholder, apart from Li Bing, is Tengxu, holding about nine percent of the shares with seventeen percent voting rights.

In addition, Jindong, Hillhouse Group’s founder, Temasek controlled by the Ministry of Finance, Singapore, international capital Redwood Capital, domestic Qian Du, and several state-owned strategic investment companies are all shareholders of Future.

Chen Yiyang’s personal wealth is really no match against these shareholders.

"Haha." Li Bing may have felt his proposal was too far-fetched, so he quickly continued, "I just think that Yiyang Automobile and Future Automobile have many areas where we can cooperate.

If you, Mr. Chen, could invest in Future Automobile, we could engage in some deep collaborations. For instance, sharing technology and jointly building battery swap stations."

Speaking of battery swap stations, Li Bing raised an eyebrow, feeling proud as he said, "Currently, even the fastest-charging electric cars can’t compete with the speed of refueling a gas car and driving away immediately.

Hence, Future Automobile launched battery swap stations. Future’s car owners can place orders online, then go to the battery swap station. The station can automatically replace the depleted battery with a fully charged one.

This process saves the car owner charging time, and although it’s still a bit slower than directly refueling with gas, it’s a million times faster than other electric vehicles waiting around to charge slowly."

Battery swap stations, huh?

When Chen Yiyang first heard of this concept, he thought it seemed quite promising.

Slow charging is indeed a pain point for electric vehicles nowadays.

When a gas car stops by a gas station, no matter how slow, it only takes around ten minutes to fill up.

Thus, gas stations don’t need to be large, and just a few employees suffice.

But that’s not necessarily the case with electric vehicles.

In the future, if everyone switches to electric vehicles, charging stations could become extremely crowded.

Especially since different electric vehicle models charge at different speeds, it could certainly lead to some conflicts.

Owners with faster-charging vehicles would undoubtedly want their cars to charge first, to finish early and leave.

But those with slower-charging vehicles wouldn’t want to wait too long and wouldn’t give up their spots.